Securely tracking electronic messages

• US 9,197,622 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Manvi, Anand, Sama, Venkata Babji, Sama, Venkat Chaitanya, Prasad, S. Balagiri
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Chau
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jamshidi, Ghodrat
• Application Number:
  US14/206,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20150264022A1
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed herein for systematically tracking the entire forwarding flow of an electronic message, such as an email. A determination is made to track an electronic message prior to it being relayed to an intended recipient. When the electronic message is forwarded by the intended recipient, a feedback message is sent by the forwarder to the originator of the electronic message. This may be used to allow the original author to review and authorize recipients of the forwarded message. The original author need not know up front to whom the message might be forwarded. Note that this not only provides security, but also provides for fine grained system for tracking the flow of messages, such as sensitive emails. The system can automatically assess the risk of authorizing the recipient to whom the message was forwarded to have access to the content based on machine learning, rules, etc.

Claims

1. A method of processing electronic messages, the method comprising:

determining, by an electronic messaging system, to track forwarding of a first electronic message that is received at a computer system in the electronic messaging system, the first electronic message identifying an originator of the first electronic message and an intended recipient of the first electronic message;

accessing a second electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator, wherein the second electronic message is accessed at a computer system in the electronic messaging system;

determining, by the electronic messaging system, that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to a forwarded recipient, the forwarded recipient not being intended by the originator as a recipient of the first electronic message;

tracking, by the electronic messaging system a forwarding history of the first electronic message, comprising storing the forwarding history in a storage device, wherein the forwarding history indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded from the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient;

automatically determining, by the electronic messaging system, a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to content of the first electronic message, wherein the determining a security risk is based on the forwarding history of the first electronic message and forwarding history of other electronic messages sent by the originator; and

providing, from the electronic messaging system to the originator, a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to the content of the first electronic message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the forwarded first electronic message comprises encrypted content, and further comprising:

determining, by the electronic messaging system, whether the originator authorizes the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content; and

providing, from the electronic messaging system to the forwarded recipient, a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted content after determining that the originator authorized the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the forwarded recipient is a first forwarded recipient, wherein the tracking the forwarding history comprises:

accessing, by the electronic messaging system, a third electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator, wherein the third electronic message is accessed at a computer system;

determining, by the electronic messaging system, that the third electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the first forwarded recipient to a second forwarded recipient, neither the first forwarded recipient nor the second forwarded recipient were intended by the originator as recipients of the first electronic message; and

adding, by the electronic messaging system, to the forwarding history that the first electronic message was forwarded from the first forwarded recipient to the second forwarded recipient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises:

determining, by the electronic messaging system, that the second electronic message is a forwarded version of the first electronic message, the forwarded version being addressed to the originator, the forwarded version identifying the forwarded recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises:

storing, by the electronic messaging system, message identifiers in computer readable storage in response to determining that electronic messages are to be tracked, comprising storing a message identifier for the first electronic message;

accessing, by the electronic messaging system, a message identifier from the second electronic message; and

determining, by the electronic messaging system, the message identifier from the second electronic message matches the message identifier for the first electronic message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic messaging system processes all emails that are sent by or received by the originator.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically adding, by the electronic messaging system, information to a header of the second electronic message in response to the intended recipient forwarding the first electronic message to the forwarded recipient, wherein the information indicates that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor readable storage device; and

a processor that;

determines to track forwarding of a first electronic message, the first electronic message comprising content, the first electronic message identifying an originator of the first electronic message and an intended recipient of the first electronic message;

accesses a second electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator;

determines that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to a forwarded recipient that was not intended by the originator as a recipient of the first electronic message; and

tracks a forwarding history of the first electronic message, comprising storing the forwarding history in the processor readable storage device, wherein the forwarding history indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded from the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient;

tracks forwarding history of other electronic messages sent by the originator;

determines a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content of the first electronic message based on the following history of the first electronic message and the forwarding history of the other electronic messages sent by the originator; and

provides, to the originator, the security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content of the first electronic message.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor:

encrypts the content of the first electronic message prior to the first electronic message being transmitted to the intended recipient;

automatically determines whether the originator authorizes the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content of the first electronic message; and

provides, to the forwarded recipient, a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted content after determining that the originator authorized the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the forwarded recipient is a first forwarded recipient, wherein the processor:

determines that a third electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the first forwarded recipient to a second forwarded recipient, wherein neither the first forwarded recipient nor the second forwarded recipient were intended by the originator as recipients of the first electronic message, wherein the third electronic message is addressed to the originator; and

adds to the forwarding history that the first electronic message was forwarded from the first forwarded recipient to the second forwarded recipient.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein, to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message, the processor:

determines that the second electronic message is a forwarded version of the first electronic message, the forwarded version lists the forwarded recipient as an addressee and the originator as an addressee.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein, to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded, the processor:

stores message identifiers, comprising a first message identifier for the first electronic message, in the processor readable storage device in response to determining to track electronic messages;

accesses a message identifier from a header of the second electronic message; and

determines that the message identifier from the second electronic message matches in the first message identifier for the first electronic message.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor:

serves as a gateway that controls delivery of electronic messages into and out of a domain of the gateway.

14. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to determine to track forwarding of a first electronic message, the first electronic message comprising content, the first electronic message identifying an originator of the first electronic message and an intended recipient of the first electronic message;

computer readable program code configured to access a second electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator;

computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to a forwarded recipient that was not intended by the originator as a recipient of the first electronic message;

computer readable program code configured to track a forwarding history of the first electronic message, comprising storing the forwarding history, wherein the forwarding history indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded from the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient;

computer readable program code configured to track forwarding history of other electronic messages sent by the originator;

computer readable program code configured to determine a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content of the first electronic message based on the forwarding history of the first electronic message and the forwarding history of the other electronic messages sent by the originator; and

computer readable program code configured to provide, to the originator, the security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content of the first electronic message.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to encrypt the content of the first electronic message prior to the first electronic message being transmitted to the intended recipient;

computer readable program code configured to determine whether the originator authorizes the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content of the forwarded first electronic message; and

computer readable program code configured to provide, to the forwarded recipient, a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted content after determining that the originator authorized the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the forwarded recipient is a first forwarded recipient, wherein the computer readable program code configured to track the forwarding history comprises computer readable program code configured to determine that a third electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the first forwarded recipient to a second forwarded recipient, wherein neither the first forwarded recipient nor the second forwarded recipient were intended by the originator as recipients of the first electronic message, wherein the third electronic message is addressed to the originator;

and computer readable program code configured to add to the forwarding history that the first electronic message was forwarded from the first forwarded recipient to the second forwarded recipient.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a forwarded version of the first electronic message, the forwarded version identifying the forwarded recipient as a first addressee and the originator as a second addressee.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises computer readable program code configured to store a first message identifier for the first electronic message in response to determining to track the first electronic message, computer readable program code configured to access a message identifier from the second electronic message, and computer readable program code configured to determine the message identifier from the second electronic message matches the first message identifier.